Many sports utilize machines for performing a competitive movement in order to provide practice for its players. Thus, for example, in baseball, pitching machines are widely used to provide practice for the batters. The use of the machines permits the batter to practice without requiring a pitcher to throw the balls.
Similarly, in hockey, puck shooting machines can be utilized to provide practice to goalies. Tennis is another sport which utilizes a tennis ball launching machine in order to provide practice for the more inexperienced players.
In the game of badminton, it is also being proposed in the art to provide machines for launching shuttlecocks. One such machine is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,752,138 to Taryoto. In this machine, a plurality of shuttlecocks line up in a chute and the shuttlecocks are individually launched by a pair of spinning wheels. A feed mechanism comprises a motor driving a four spoke rotor.